


An Unorthodox Pedagogical Approach

by Elizabeth Culmer (edenfalling)



Series: The Way of the Apartment Manager [17]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Era, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Genin Teams, Ninja, Prompt Fic, Slice of Life, Teaching, Triple Drabble
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-06
Updated: 2015-10-06
Packaged: 2018-04-25 01:59:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4942345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/edenfalling/pseuds/Elizabeth%20Culmer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Naga and Kakashi take their genin teams on a joint D-rank mission. There is no way this can possibly go wrong. (Part of the "Apartment Manager" AU.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	An Unorthodox Pedagogical Approach

**Author's Note:**

  * For [wistfulmemory](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wistfulmemory/gifts).



> This ficlet was written for [wistfulmemory](http://wistfulmemory.livejournal.com) in response to the prompt: _If you're willing (and can without spoilers), I would love a future fic showing Naruto, Shinnin, and Sakura working together as a team while on a mission_.
> 
> Despite this being an AU, Team 7 still end up together because of Reasons. Shinnin winds up on a team with two other OCs, one of whom (Zenryou Haruka, Sakura's chief tormentor) has been briefly mentioned though not yet depicted on-page, and the other of whom (Arisawa Tora) has until now existed only in my background files. So this is a joint mission between their teams.
> 
> Spoilers for a thing that happens to Naga between "Guardian" and the start of canon, obviously. :D

"This can only end in tears," Naga said quietly to Kakashi while their respective genin trios stared warily at each other and the stretch of mud and marsh that had been a road and wheat field until the huge storm two days ago. "Tears and snot and _blood_."

"I find your pessimism groundless and hurtful," Kakashi said in a wounded tone. "One of your cute little genin has been best friends with two of my cute little genin since they were so tiny they might as well not have existed!"

"True. Know what's also true?" Naga leaned back against the trunk of their observation tree and ticked off points on her fingers: "Shinnin and Sasuke are sworn rivals. Haruka bullied Sakura for years. Naruto wants to make Tora like him when Tora just wants to be left alone. Plus Shinnin's finally learning to work with Haruka -- bets on whether Sakura and Naruto take that well?" She waved through the leaves toward the increasingly tense standoff beneath them. "Like I said, tears and blood."

Kakashi tucked away his copy of _Icha Icha Paradise_ with a thoughtful hum. "You may have a point. Kids this age are a stew of confused emotions and unjustified egotism. Clearly we can't train them out of that in a single afternoon, so as responsible teachers, we'll just have to make sure they direct their aggression toward a single target."

Naga eyed him suspiciously. Kakashi was never this helpful without a catch, and delaying the start of their joint culvert-repair mission by stealing her paperwork was unlikely to be the last chaos he caused today. "Right. Sure. That target being?"

Kakashi closed his one visible eye in an exaggerated wink. "Us, of course!" he said, and leapt down from the tree to a chorus of outraged shouts.

**Author's Note:**

> And that is as far as I'm willing to write ahead of myself in this series. Anything more would require heavy duty spoilers for the climax of "The Guardian in Spite of Herself," since the situation brewing in Tengai has serious political implications in several directions at once. (Also I want to maintain a _little_ mystery over who may or may not die. I mean, this is my happy AU where people get better childhoods, OR ELSE -- I would never deny that -- but it's still a story about ninjas, so.)


End file.
